AOP or APT for overriding methods from super classes

Question

I have a large library of wicket components that are annotated with a custom annotation @ReferencedResource or another annotation @ReferencedResources, that has a ReferencedResouce[] value() parameter to allow multiple annotations.

Here is a sample code snippet:

@ReferencedResources({
    @ReferencedResource(value = Libraries.MOO_TOOLS, type = ResourceType.JAVASCRIPT),
    @ReferencedResource(value = "behaviors/promoteSelectOptions", type = ResourceType.JAVASCRIPT) })
public class PromoteSelectOptionsBehavior extends AbstractBehavior{
 ...
}

So far, I use apt to check that the referenced resources actually exist. E.g.

@ReferencedResource(value = "behaviors/promoteSelectOptions",
                     type = ResourceType.JAVASCRIPT)

will cause a compilation failure unless the file js/behaviors/promoteSelectOptions.js can be found on the class path. This part works nicely.

Now I am also a fan of DRY and I would like to use the same annotation to actually inject the resources into the Objects when they are created. Using AspectJ, I have implemented a part of this.

The annotated Objects are always either instances of Component or AbstractBehavior.

For components, things are easy, just match after the constructor. Here's an advice that does this:

pointcut singleAnnotation() : @within(ReferencedResource);

pointcut multiAnnotation() : @within(ReferencedResources);

after() : execution(Component+.new(..)) && (singleAnnotation() || multiAnnotation()){
    final Component component = (Component) thisJoinPoint.getTarget();
    final Collection<ReferencedResource> resourceAnnotations =
        // gather annotations from cache
        this.getResourceAnnotations(component.getClass());
    for(final ReferencedResource annotation : resourceAnnotations){
        // helper utility that handles the creation of statements like
        // component.add(JavascriptPackageResource.getHeaderContribution(path))
        this.resourceInjector.inject(component, annotation);
    }
}

For behaviors however, I need to attach the resources to a response, not to the behavior itself. Here are the pointcuts I use:

pointcut renderHead(IHeaderResponse response) :
    execution(* org.apache.wicket.behavior.AbstractBehavior+.renderHead(*))
        && args(response);

And here is the advice:

before(final IHeaderResponse response) : 
    renderHead(response) && (multiAnnotation() || singleAnnotation()) {
    final Collection<ReferencedResource> resourceAnnotations =
        this.getResourceAnnotations(thisJoinPoint.getTarget().getClass());
    for(final ReferencedResource resource : resourceAnnotations){
        this.resourceInjector.inject(response, resource);
    }
}

This also works nicely if the class overrides the renderHead(response) method, but in many cases that's just not necessary because a super class already implements the base functionality while the child class only adds some configuration. So one solution would be to let these classes define a method like this:

@Override
public void renderHead(IHeaderResponse response){
    super.renderHead(response);
}

I would hate this, because this is dead code, but currently this is the only working option I see, so I am looking for other solutions.

EDIT:

I have created a working solution using APT and sun javac calls. However, this leads to the next problem: Running APT and AspectJ in the same project using maven.

Anyway, as soon as I have some free time, I'll post the answer to this question (or parts of it).

Answer 1

Answering my own question:

Here is the relevant bit of code to insert the super call:

these fields are all initialized in init(env) or process(annotations, roundEnv):

private static Filer filer;
private static JavacProcessingEnvironment environment;
private static Messager messager;
private static Types types;
private static JavacElements elementUtils;
private Trees trees;
private TreeMaker treeMaker;
private IdentityHashMap<JCCompilationUnit, Void> compilationUnits;
private Map<String, JCCompilationUnit> typeMap;

And here is the logic that is called if a subtype of AbstractBehavior that has the annotation does not override the renderHead(response) method:

private void addMissingSuperCall(final TypeElement element){
    final String className = element.getQualifiedName().toString();
    final JCClassDecl classDeclaration =
        // look up class declaration from a local map 
        this.findClassDeclarationForName(className);
    if(classDeclaration == null){
        this.error(element, "Can't find class declaration for " + className);
    } else{
        this.info(element, "Creating renderHead(response) method");
        final JCTree extending = classDeclaration.extending;
        if(extending != null){
            final String p = extending.toString();
            if(p.startsWith("com.myclient")){
                // leave it alone, we'll edit the super class instead, if
                // necessary
                return;
            } else{
                // @formatter:off (turns off eclipse formatter if configured)

                // define method parameter name
                final com.sun.tools.javac.util.Name paramName =
                    elementUtils.getName("response");
                // Create @Override annotation
                final JCAnnotation overrideAnnotation =
                    this.treeMaker.Annotation(
                        Processor.buildTypeExpressionForClass(
                            this.treeMaker,
                            elementUtils,
                            Override.class
                        ),
                        // with no annotation parameters
                        List.<JCExpression> nil()
                    );
                // public
                final JCModifiers mods =
                    this.treeMaker.Modifiers(Flags.PUBLIC,
                        List.of(overrideAnnotation));
                // parameters:(final IHeaderResponse response)
                final List<JCVariableDecl> params =
                    List.of(this.treeMaker.VarDef(this.treeMaker.Modifiers(Flags.FINAL),
                        paramName,
                        Processor.buildTypeExpressionForClass(this.treeMaker,
                            elementUtils,
                            IHeaderResponse.class),
                        null));

                //method return type: void
                final JCExpression returnType =
                    this.treeMaker.TypeIdent(TypeTags.VOID);


                // super.renderHead(response);
                final List<JCStatement> statements =
                    List.<JCStatement> of(
                        // Execute this:
                        this.treeMaker.Exec(
                            // Create a Method call:
                            this.treeMaker.Apply(
                                // (no generic type arguments)
                                List.<JCExpression> nil(),
                                // super.renderHead
                                this.treeMaker.Select(
                                    this.treeMaker.Ident(
                                        elementUtils.getName("super")
                                    ),
                                    elementUtils.getName("renderHead")
                                ),
                                // (response)
                                List.<JCExpression> of(this.treeMaker.Ident(paramName)))
                            )
                     );
                // build code block from statements
                final JCBlock body = this.treeMaker.Block(0, statements);
                // build method
                final JCMethodDecl methodDef =
                    this.treeMaker.MethodDef(
                        // public
                        mods,
                        // renderHead
                        elementUtils.getName("renderHead"),
                        // void
                        returnType,
                        // <no generic parameters>
                        List.<JCTypeParameter> nil(),
                        // (final IHeaderResponse response)
                        params,
                        // <no declared exceptions>
                        List.<JCExpression> nil(),
                        // super.renderHead(response);
                        body,
                        // <no default value>
                        null);

                // add this method to the class tree
                classDeclaration.defs =
                    classDeclaration.defs.append(methodDef);

                // @formatter:on turn eclipse formatter on again
                this.info(element,
                    "Created renderHead(response) method successfully");

            }
        }

    }
}